[scribus] DockWidgets and Workspaces

[Gregory Pittman]

On 08/28/2010 07:04 AM, Keith Abraham wrote:
> I'm using Debian sid and python 2.6 with qt 4.7.3
>
> Lat night I tried the scripts on both scribus 1.3.3.14 and 1.3.8. Both
> failed.
>
> 1.3.3.14 crashed with the following report:
>
> Unable to load icon /usr/share/scribus/icons/scribus.png: File not found
> Scribus Crash
> -------------
> Scribus crashes due to Signal #11
> Calling Emergency Save
> Segmentation fault
>
> I know little about python so I can't find anything in the scripts which
> looks for scribus.png (anyway this icon is normally called
> scribus_logo.png)
>
>
> 1.3.8 docked a window OK but seemed to be locked in a loop with the
> loading cursor running and the following in the terminal:
>
> (4361) KSycocaPrivate::openDatabase: Trying to open ksycoca from
> "/var/tmp/kdecache-keith/ksycoca4"
>
> Probably a combination of KDE and qt4.7.3?

1.3.3.x probably won't work since it's using Qt3.

I've tried it on 2 Fedora 13 machines, one a desktop, the other a netbook.

To say that it's a bit fiddly is an understatement.

Here is the sequence that seems to work for me in both environments 
(running 1.3.9svn):

1. Once you get the scripts, edit SaveWorkspace.py and LoadWorkspace.py 
so that the place to save fits your environment. (Example: I used 
/home/gregp/.scribus). I also edited the dialogs loaded, trimming them 
down to Properties, Layers, and Scrapbook, since I don't want all these 
others most of the time.

2. Start Scribus with or without a document. Go to File > Preferences > 
Scripter, enable Extension Scripts. Save the settings, close Scribus, 
then open again (this is so this setting is saved, since if Scribus 
crashes, it won't save your Preferences)

3. Now run DockWidgets.py -- you will likely be presented with a major 
distortion of your Scribus window, but hopefully it works, and you have 
a number of dialogs docked on the right. Clicking the expand/contract 
widget at the upper right corner of the main Scribus window may get 
everything on screen like you want. Get rid of unwanted dialogs. Also 
note that if you drag and drop dialogs you want from below up over the 
top one, you should be able to create a tabbed setup, with tabs at the 
bottom allowing you to switch from one dialog to another. Hint: don't 
drag all the way up to the top of the dialog, only go 1/3 to 1/2 the 
way, otherwise you'll just replace the top dialog with the one you are 
dragging instead of creating tabs.

4. Now run SaveWorkspace.py

5. Go back to File > Preferences > Scripter, and change the startup 
script in Extensions to Scribus_Startup.py (I'm not quite sure this 
actually sticks, though)

6. Close Scribus, start again to see if it works as planned with your 
docked dialogs. On this netbook this morning, I find that I don't get an 
automatic running of the scripts, but running DockWidgets.py (and maybe 
LoadWorkspace.py restores my chosen setup, _but_ I may still have to do 
some fiddling with the window widget to get it sized properly.

So in my hands it works after a fashion, is quite fiddly, but what I 
like is the tabbed feature it can create, especially useful on this 
netbook with its limited real estate. I would also add that you can 
still use and then close other dialogs, but they will pop up in their 
usual somewhat random locations.

So if we can get a C++ version that is more integrated into Scribus, I 
think we will have a useful addition.

Greg